Wrappers

Wrappers are additional applications that allow certain emulators to work properly with a frontend or arcade setup.

Most emulators are not designed with frontends or arcade machines in mind, and therefore may cause some or all of the following issues to arise when they are attempted to run that way, such as:

Requires specific keys to be pressed at startup

Starts in windowed mode (as opposed to full screen)

Loses ‘focus’ to the application when starting (preventing keystrokes from working)

Will not exit the software without a key or mouse button press

This is where a wrapper comes in. Instead of running the emulator directly, you run the wrapper, and the wrapper in turn runs the emulator or application for you. However, the wrapper takes care of any miscellaneous issues that arise, such as listed above.

In order to use a wrapper, it will require additional configuration. You will need to configure the frontend to run the wrapper executable, and you will also need to configure the wrapper, usually by editing ini files (text configuration files), and inform it on how to run the emulator or application.